Bio

Background

Taylor received his BA from Wake Forest University in 1963 and his JD in 1966, also from Wake Forest. Prior to serving in Congress, he was a tree farmer and a banker.

Congressional Career

Taylor was elected to his eighth consecutive term in the 2004 Congressional elections, earning 55% of the popular vote and defeating Democrat Maggie Lauterer.

Political analysts have been taken by surprise over the past decade, as Taylor has continued to be reelected in what was once a marginally Democratic district. Taylor has won with 55-65% of votes in recent elections. Democrats recruited former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler to move into North Carolina from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee to run for Taylor's seat in 2006. Shuler defeated Taylor 54% to 46% to take possession of the seat. [1]

Positions and Views

In his first term, as a member of the Gang of Seven, a group of young, idealistic Republican freshmen, Taylor worked to expose the congressional corruption in the form of Rubbergate, the House banking scandal.

He has been critized by environmental activists and has been dubbed with the nickname "Chainsaw Charlie" by his detractors.

Meet the Cash Constituents

Links to more campaign contribution information for Charles Taylorfrom the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Savings and loan scandal

In 2001 a federal investigation was made into fraudulent loans made by the Blue Ridge Savings & Loan bank, which was founded and is chaired by Taylor. The probe produced guilty pleas by Taylor's former campaign manager and one of his biggest campaign donors, but did not result in charges for Taylor himself. [5]

Russian issues

Taylor is the majority owner of a bank and a frequent real estate investor in Russian city of Ivanovo. [6]

In 2005, Taylor created and funded the International Trade and Small Business Institute through an earmark for the Small Business Administration. The institute, funded by federal tax money, sends seven or eight students from Russia to study business at North Carolina schools and has an annual budget of $12 million. Taylor has touted the program as a way to foster small business development in Russia. The Russian coordinator for the program is Marina Bolshakov, who is the co-owner of the Ivanovo bank with Taylor as well as his business partner in the Columbus Russian investment partnership. Taylor has stated that Bolshakov is unpaid for her work on the program. [7]

The Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas, a non-profit that Taylor helped found in 1997 and whose $12 million budget is funded entirely by federal tax dollars, also receives money from the Russian program earmark. Two of the Consortium's board members are also Taylor campaign donors. [8]

Earmarks for non-profit group

In 1999, Taylor met with the presidents of four colleges in his district to plan a strategy for attracting high-tech jobs to the area. From these meetings, the tax-exempt Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas began. In the years since its founding, Taylor has been able to use his influence on the House Appropriations Committee to receive funding for the program. In one 2006 appropriations bill, ERC-linked schools received $2 million for an astronomical research center, $1 million for a computer engineering program and an additional $1 million for no assigned purpose, according to the nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense. In addition, a Taylor earmark provided $2.8 million to the National Climatic Data Center, where the ERC operates a fiber-optic network and ERC board member Max Lennon manages a business interpreting weather data. Taylor has been heavily criticized by his 2006 re-election opponent, former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, for his reliance on earmarking to serve non-profit groups (who do not pay taxes). [9]

Earmarks used for personal benefit

In October 2006, the Wall Street Journal ran an report claiming that Taylor had earmarked millions of dollars in federal funds for a project that would create a highway in a rural area where he owned land. Taylor vigorously denied the charges and claimed that he owned no land in the area. On October 25, however, The Hill revealed that public land records still list Taylor as the owner of 17 acres in the area.[11]

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